PASTURE MAINTENANCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19879, 24 February 1928, Page 17

PASTURE MAINTENANCE

TOP-DESSING POLICY. DRY WEATHER AND GRASS. FODDER CROPS IMPORTANT. Tho remarkable success attending the top-dressing of pastures has led many settlers in the northern parts of New Zealand to believe that a royal road to farming has been discovered. "Scrap the plough and use the manure drill" is a slogan that has been quite common during recent years, and the idea has gained ground that so long as pastures are well manured they will provide all the food needed for stock year in and year out. No doubt in the warm parts of the Dominion it would be quite possible to depend upon grass and grass alone if paspalum and similar drought-resisting grasses were used for summer, and prairie and other hardy grasses specially grown for the cold season. This would be as nearly a royal road to farming as one could expect and backod up by regular and judicious manuring might last for a considerable number of years. But even where most successful it is doubtful whether it would give the best returns on the value of the land used, and the capital and labour of the farmer. This Summer's Lesson. Complete dependence on grass has been fairly satisfactory to some farmers during tho past few seasons of ample summer rainfall. Tho present dry, hot summer has shown, however, that no matter how well manured pastures are, they cannot, when composed of English grasses, withstand the heat and glare of a long spell of hot weather. It has to be remembered that cool, wet summers such as allow the maximum production of our ordinary pastures are rather abnormal than normal. If one studies a record of weather conditions over a long period of years it will be found that through the greater portion of New Zealand, and particularly in the northern parts of the North Islandj the period between January and April is more frequently dry and hot rather than wet and cool. For this reason we have consistently advised our farmers to make provision for summer scarcity by growing crops that are likely to be green and succulent even in what may be called drought-time. Lucerne wherever it will grow, and it will grow in most places if proper cultivation is used, is the great standby of dairy farmers, and there is little doubt that, if the bulk of our dairy farmers had established for themselves a fair-sized plot of lucerne, they would have seen no curtailment of their dairy cheques this season, and many would have seen an increase. Green maize is another crop that, when once well ahead on properly worked and manured soils, will withstand s.ny such drought as we have experienced so far this season and will, together with even somewhat cultured pasture grasses, keep a dairying herd in good milking condition. There are many other crops that will fulfil the same purposes as lucerne and maize, and as we have already pointed out, such drought-resistant grasses as paspalum and kikuyu can be used effectively and profitably to keep stock in good condition through seasons of dry, hot weather. Proper Rotation. The books of our dairy factories are excellent barometers, but it is surprising how little notice is taken of them. Every day for a considerable time they have been recording a drop in milk supplies, and what the total loss will be before the present summer is ended will make a very serious reading. A very small amount of green feed would have kept up the produce of most herds, and in many cases might have increased the yield as against ordinary pasture feeding. Cows like a change of feed, particularly during the hot time of the year, and a tasty bite stimulates milk production. Apart, however, from the very important duty of providing the right kind of food during seasons of scarcity, the growing of root and fodder crops in proper rotation helps to increase tho stockcarrying capacity of the farm, and to maintain or increase the fertility of the soil. It is very nice, of course, to believe that this can be done by top-dres-sing pastures with fertilisers. It may be possible to maintain the feeding value of grass for quite a long while with skilful manuring, but no one has yet discovered how long pastures can be kept at their maximum production. Tho examination of famous English grass lands by scientists during the Great War completely dispelled the idea that even the most valuable of these pastures could even bv courtesy be called permanent. Scientific investigation showed that in nearly every. case, and even on the richest soils, the valuable grasses had been .replaced by inferior species and by weeds. ->■ Some Cropping Essential. Grasses, although they may be called Jiorennial, are not truly so. Most of them have a comparatively short cycle c" life, and unless they can reproduce themselves by seeding, or through stoloniferona roots, must certainly perish and aro replaced by inferior sorts or by weeds and this is the case no matter how well they are manured. It is necessary that those farmers who aro pinning their faith on keeping op their pastures indefinitely by means of top-dressing should realise this fact, otherwise the slogan of scrap the plough may find numerous adhorents, for to escape enriching the soil by the sweat of one's brow has its fascinations. There is, as we have already said, no royal road to farming. Since the time of Adam tho soil has persistently refused to give its increase except under cultivation. Top-dressing pastures is, of course, a form of cultivation, and should be encouraged in every part of New Zealand. Where the bulk of the land is in grass, as must be tho case in New Zealand for many years to como, adding the right kind of fertilisers to grass land is the most important and profitable work which the average farmer can do, and there is little doubt that it can be carried on successfully for a long time. It is essential, however, that a certain amount of cropping should be done on nearly every farm, not only to raise supplementary feed for stock in hot, dry summers and cold, wet winters, but in order to profitably renew pastures as they become worn out. • The ploughing of lea land has always been looked upon as a very 'mportant undertaking on nearly every class of farm. It not only helps to get rid of inferior grasses and weeds, but it improves the friability of the soil, and adds to it by the decay of vegetable matter humus in a form most valuable for the increase of friendly bacteria without whoso aid no soil can do its best. _ The idea of scrapping tho plough is shortsighted, and may have dangerous results. The new slogan -should be " intensive and scientific cultivation" so that every acre may be brought to its highest point of production. This will not only enable the farmer to reduce the area of land needed to give him a living, but will increase the number of 'arms and farmers, thereby adding to tho wealth and security of the Dominion.